Right now, I am despondent. Someone dear and close to my heart is hurting because of unrequited love. No human experience can surpass the thrill and joy of falling in love. But the danger in falling in love is that one can get up one morning and find that love is gone. For love to be true, it has to be a decision that is renewed everyday, with every act, at every opportunity. Otherwise, it is just as easy to fall out of love.
In times like these, words would seem hollow and anything I could do would seem inadequate. I can only offer unspoken words and in that silence be present and stay with this beloved person. I go back to yesterday’s Gospel – the Beatitudes – and I reflect on them again this morning, with this beloved person in mind.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they create a space of detachment to allow the God of Love to establish His kingdom in that emptiness. Then, the Kingdom of heaven will be theirs.
Blessed are they who mourn, for in their sadness they come to realize their inadequacies and shortcomings allowing the God of life to bring all their incompleteness to completion and their nothingness into the fullness of life. Then, they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for it is only in an environment of kindness and gentleness where true love can grow and prosper, not in a milieu of grasping and wanting. Then, they will inherit the land.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they soon learn that love for righteousness will allow for the faults of loved ones and in the end they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they know that hatred, anger and revenge will never be able to accomplish what love can do. As they have shown mercy and forgiveness, so will they be shown mercy and forgiveness.
Blessed are the clean of heart, for they bear witness to the reality that love is stronger that hatred, that light is stronger than darkness, that life is stronger than sadness. And in the cleanness of their hearts, they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they teach us that only love can break the cycles of selfishness and pride and greed that pervades so much of our world today. Indeed, they will be called children of God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for in their sadness the God of Love will work out His wonders too wonderful for words to describe. It can only be that theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
This beloved of mine has been light and salt in the lives of many people. He has moved from the “Thou shalt not . . . .” of the Commandments to the “Thou shalt do . . . .” of the Beatitudes. God is faithful to His promises and He will put gladness into this person’s heart, more that when grain and wine abound.
O LORD, let the light of your countenance shine upon us!
You put gladness into my heart, more than when grain and wine abound.
Jesus said to his disciples:
“You are the salt of the earth.
But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?
It is no longer good for anything
but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
You are the light of the world.
A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.
Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket;
it is set on a lampstand,
where it gives light to all in the house.
Just so, your light must shine before others,
that they may see your good deeds
and glorify your heavenly Father.”
Matthew 5:13-16